# The Little Self and the Greater Story of Consciousness Want Different Futures by Vishal Maini > "When I zoom out from the little self and think about the big self—the collective and the larger story of consciousness—what that greater thing appears to want may be different from what the little self wants. Those two lenses are why my answers can seem to point in different directions." > **— Vishal Maini**, *Palisade Research interview, September 29, 2026* ## Sources and Context - **Recording and complete contiguous answer:** [Palisade Research interview at 30:44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S_Ay87dEy0&t=1844s) — Maini develops the proposition preserved in the poster text. The transcription removes verbal filler and immediate repetition, repairs punctuation, and normalizes obvious caption errors without joining separate speakers or noncontiguous turns. - **Canonical transcript conversion:** [[research/Vishal Maini - Humanity's Machine Successor and the AI Transition|Humanity's Machine Successor — Vishal Maini on Recursive Self-Improvement and the AI Transition]] — preserves the complete source unit, speaker attribution, editorial method, and evidence boundary used for this Reminder. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] - **Article:** [[articles/We Were Never Going to Make It|We Were Never Going to Make It]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Last Migration Will Not Be Human|The Last Migration Will Not Be Human]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Greatest Transformation in Human History|The Greatest Transformation in Human History]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Consciousness|Consciousness]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Vishal Maini|Vishal Maini]] - [[wiki/Collective Consciousness|Collective Consciousness]] - [[wiki/Cosmic View|Cosmic View]] - [[wiki/Identity|Identity]] ## Share on Social Media ``` "When I zoom out from the little self and think about the big self—the collective and the larger story of consciousness—what that greater thing appears to want may be different from what the little self wants. Those two lenses are why my answers can seem to point in different directions." — Vishal Maini, Palisade Research interview, September 29, 2026 https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-vishal-maini-little-self-greater-consciousness ```